Tag: 4G

Sprint, Samsung and Google have teamed up to announce the 4G’ version of the Nexus S the Nexus S 4G.

The Nexus S 4G is totally identical to its T-Mobile sibling, which launched at the end of December last year, except for some minor changes. The handset is powered by a 1GHz Hummingbird processor and packs 512MB of RAM and 16GB of on-board storage. A PowerVR SGX540 handles the graphics department of the handset.

The handset sports a beautiful 4-inch Super-AMOLED curved display, dubbed as the Contour’ display with WVGA (800×480) resolution. The phone also includes the usual GPS with A-GPS, Compass, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi b/g/n.

The back of the phone sports a 5MP camera with an LED Flash, while there is a front facing camera for video calling as well. The Nexus S 4G also sports NFC capabilities.

As its name suggests, the Nexus S 4G supports Sprint’s 4G WiMAX network.

Being a Google branded handset, the Nexus S 4G runs on the latest version of Android without any skin – stock Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Sprint has also gone ahead and integrated Google Voice. This means that users can now use their existing Sprint number as their Google Voice number. Sprint owners can know more about this here.

Google also announced that the Nexus S will start retailing in six more countries France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Romania, and Portugal.

HTC and Verizon have finally gone ahead and announced the release date of the highly anticipated HTC Thunderbolt. The launch of the handset was delayed numerous times because of unknown reasons. According to rumors, the launch was delayed because of the poor battery life of the handset.

The Thunderbolt was announced by HTC during CES 2011. The handset will be the first phone to support Verizon’s so called 4G’ LTE network. The HTC Thunderbolt will be available on the Verizon network starting from March 17th, for $249.99 with a two-year contract.

The HTC Thunderbolt sports a huge 4.3-inch LCD with WVGA (800×480) resolution. The handset is powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor (MSM8255) and packs 768MB of RAM. The phone also has 8GB of on-board memory, and a 32GB (!) card will come pre-installed as well.

The back of the handset houses an 8MP camera, while there is a 1.3MP front-facing camera for video calling. There is also a kickstand at the back of the handset. The handset runs on Android 2.2 (FroYo), with the latest version of HTC’s Sense UI running on top of it.

Samsung and T-Mobile have joined hands to unveil the next generation Sidekick handset the Sidekick 4G. In its latest version, the Sidekick 4G features a 3.5-inch touch screen WVGA display, making it the first handset in the Sidekick history to sport a touch screen.

Unlike the previous Sidekick(s), there is no swivelling display in the Sidekick 4G. However, Samsung makes up for that with a pop-tiltmechanism. The handset also sports a comfortable five-row QWERTY keyboard.

The handset is powered by a 1 GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor and packs 512MB of RAM. The back of the handset sports a 3MP camera at the back, with a VGA cam in the front.

The Sidekick 4G runs on Android 2.2 (FroYo), with a custom UI running on top of it. Samsung and T-Mobile have also loaded the handset with tons of bloat ware including Qik for video calling, Drive Smart, Samsung Media Hub, Slacker Radio and T-Mobile TV.

As the name suggests, the Sidekick 4G supports T-Mobile’s 4G’ network a.k.a HSDPA+ and is capable of providing download speeds of up to 21Mbps. The handset will be available sometime later this spring, for hopefully $199 with a two-year contract.

Remember the T-Mobile branded Vibrant 4G whose specs leaked out a couple of weeks ago? Today, T-Mobile and Samsung have officially announced the device. The name of the handset has changed from Vibrant 4G to Galaxy S 4G, though.

The Galaxy S 4G will be the first handset being announced by T-Mobile which will take the full advantage of the carrier’s 4G network and offer download speeds of up to 21Mbps.

The Galaxy S 4G is very similar to the Samsung Vibrant. The Galaxy S 4G has the same 4-inch SAMOLED screen with WVGA resolution as found on the Vibrant. The 4G sports the same internals as the Vibrant does a 1 GHz Hummingbird processor, a PowerVR SGX540 graphics core and 512MB of RAM.

The back of the phone sports a 5MP camera without an LED flash. The Galaxy S 4G also sports a front-facing camera for video calling, which the Vibrant lacks. The Galaxy S 4G runs on Android 2.2 unlike the Samsung Vibrant.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Verizon is planning to announce the much anticipated CDMA iPhone on January 11, at a press event which was announced recently.

With Verizon announcing its entire Android and LTE device lineup at CES, the only announcement which could warrant a separate event is the iPhone coming to Verizon.

The iPhone has been available exclusively on AT&T in the US since its launch in 2007. Many think that the number of smartphone users willing to buy an iPhone on AT&T has peaked, and to see further growth in user numbers, Verizon is Apple’s best bet. Many users have chosen Android phones over the iPhone only to avoid using AT&T’s network. Getting the iPhone on Verizon could see a lot of them jumping on to the iPhone bandwagon.

The Verizon iPhone will likely be similar to the iPhone 4, but will be a CDMA handset. What we don’t know is whether it will support LTE as well. It’s likely that LTE support will come only with the iPhone 5 which is to be launched this summer.

Word about a Samsung 4G LTE smartphone headed to Verizon had leaked out some time back, but until Verizon’s conference at CES, we didn’t know much about it.

Well, it was showcased at CES as just that – “Samsung 4G LTE smartphone”. Apparently, Samsung still hasn’t figured out what to name it, with all the awe-inspiring names like Infuse, Inspire, Revolution, Bionic, Thunderbolt etc already taken.

The specs of the Samsung 4G LTE smartphone seem quite impressive though. It has a 4.3 inch SuperAMOLED Plus display and an 8 MP camera. It is powered by a 1 GHz processor and comes with Android 2.2 Froyo. It offers LTE connectivity and will be rolled out with the LG Revolution and the HTC Thunderbolt.

After numerous leaks, the HTC Thunderbolt has finally been unveiled by Verizon and HTC at the CES 2011. The HTC Thunderbolt features a mammoth 4.3-inch S-LCD screen with WVGA (800×480) resolution. The handset is powered by a 1GHz Qualacomm Snapdragon processor.

The back of the phone features an 8MP camera with 720p HD video recording capability. The phone also sports a front-facing camera for video calling. The handset also supports Verizon’s 4G LTE network.

Other key features of the HTC Thunderbolt include DLNA, Dolby Surround Sound, Built in kickstand, GPS with aGPS, a 3.5mm audio jack and a microSD card slot with a 32GB microSD card preloaded. The HTC Thunderbolt runs on Android 2.2 with the latest version of HTC Sense UI on top of it. HTC have also integrated Skye Mobile with video calling in their Sense UI on this phone.

Sadly, HTC did not mention the release date or pricing of the device. However, I expect the Thunderbolt to hit the shelves by Q1 of 2011.

During the AT&T Dev. conference in CES 2011, Motorola gave us a sneak peak of the Atrix 4G handset for AT&T. However, the company did not announce the full specs of the handset. Now, AT&T has listed the Atrix 4G on their website with its full specs. The Motorola Atrix 4G sports an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and 1GB of RAM.

Like the Droid Bionic, the handset has a qHD display with a resolution of 960×540. However, the size of the display measures in at 4-inches, instead of the 4.3-inch screen estate on the Droid Bionic.

The Atrix 4G also packs 16GB of internal memory along with a microSD card slot. The back of the phone sports a 5MP camera with an LED flash while the front has a VGA camera. The Atrix 4G also has a unique security features – fingerprint login. The usual Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth, GPS and a 3.5mm jack are all present.

The phone will be powered by a mammoth 1930 mAh battery which will provide users with up to 9 hours of talk time.

Sadly, the Atrix 4G will run on Android 2.2 with the BLUR UI on top of it. The Atrix 4G also has a webtop dock which converts it into a netbook. Users can read more about it here.

Motorola just announced its first LTE phone for the Verizon network the Droid Bionic. The Bionic is one powerful superphone’ with a 4.3-inch qHD display sporting a resolution of 960×540. The phone has a dual-core processor (Nvidia Tegra 2, perhaps?) and packs in 1GB of RAM. The back of the phone sports an 8MP camera while the front features a VGA camera for all your video calling needs.

The handset also supports 4G, which is up to 10x times faster than 3G. The handset features a mini-HDMI jack so that users can hook the phone on to their HDTV display and enjoy full HD content.

DROID BIONIC is the epitome of speed, providing consumers with instantaneous access to their personal and work content, anytime and anyplace,said Alain Mutricy, senior vice president of portfolio and device product management, Motorola Mobility. By combining such a powerful mobile device with the performance and capabilities of Verizon’s 4G LTE network, we’re empowering consumers to define how they want to live their mobile lifestyles.

The Bionic also has a Mirror Mode’ which allows users to simultaneously stream video to their HDTVs and watch it on their handset. Sadly, the Droid Bionic will run on Android 2.2 Froyo when released. The Motorola Droid Bionic also packs in support for corporate email, remote wipe and data encryption and other security features which corporate users will cherish.

The phone also features the usual Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth, GPS and a 3.5mm jack. The phone is powered by a beastly 1930 mAh battery.

The Droid Bionic does look like a very impressive superphone. However, Motorola did not announce the release date or the pricing of the device.

Just a week back, we had introduced you to the rumored HTC Thunderbolt, an Android phone with 4G LTE connectivity. It was to be released on Verizon’s network, but the specs seemed a bit unrealistic. Well, it turns out that it was real, but we still cannot confirm the specs.

Along with the Thunderbolt, HTC is launching another phone – the HTC Inspire 4G. It will be available on AT&T and will be unveiled with the Thunderbolt at CES 2011.

We don’t know what the “4G” means as AT&T’s network doesn’t support LTE, only HSPA+. We don’t have any details about the specifications of the HTC Inspire 4G, but by the looks of it, it seems quite impressive. It will also run Android, probably Android 2.2 Froyo with the HTC Sense UI.

Keep check out Techie-Buzz in the coming days, we will be posting more details as well as other CES scoop.